Bellator 173: "McGeary vs. Fields" takes place TONIGHT (Fri., Feb. 24, 2017) from inside SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The headlining fight this evening is a Light Heavyweight contest with former champion Liam McGeary looking to rebound against Brett McDermott.
Speaking of regionally relevant fighters, the undefeated James Gallagher (5-0) will look to continue his march up the Featherweight ranks in Bellator against Kirill Medvedovsky (7-3), and the undefeated Sinead Kavanagh will have a 140-pound catchweight bout with Iony Razafiarison.
Bellator 173 will start tonight at 9 p.m. ET. MMAmania.com will be here all night long to deliver LIVE results and play-by-play starting with the first bout aired on Spike.
Many readers check in before, during and after the fights to share their thoughts on all of the action. Feel free to leave a comment (or 172) about the bouts and chat with all the other Maniacs during the show -- it's always a lot of fun!
BELLATOR 173 QUICK RESULTS:
Liam McGeary vs. Brett McDermott -- McGeary TKO 1:06 R2.
James Gallagher vs. Kirill Medvedovsky -- Gallagher sub (RNC) 2:53 R1.
Sinead Kavanagh vs. Iony Razafiarison -- Razafiarison UD 30-27, 30-26, 30-25.
Alex Lohore vs. Colin Fletcher -- Lohore sub (RNC) 2:42 R2.
Shay Walsh vs. James McErlean -- Walsh via unanimous decision.
BELLATOR 173 PLAY-BY-PLAY:
Liam McGeary vs. Brett McDermott
Black/red trunks and blue gloves for the 7-4 McDermott in tonight's main event. The former 205 lb. champion McGeary sports the gray trunks and red gloves, 11-1, his only loss coming to "Mr. Wonderful" Phil Davis. McDermott fights out of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. McGeary fights out of Brooklyn, New York by way of Kingsland, London, England. Our referee in charge is Dan Miragliotta.
Round 1: McGeary gets knocked down 18 second into the fight and gets up swinging. McDermott smells blood and continues to pressure. They trade hands at 1:13 after McGeary threw a knee. McGeary hurts him with a left hook at 1:49 and follows with an uppercut and a headkick. McDermott gets a takedown but realizes that's a bad idea with a submissions specialist and backs off to throw leg kicks as McGeary lays and waits for him to either jump in or let him back up, and he gets up at 2:45. McDermott's bloody face gets battered with another knee and McGeary jumps on top looking for a d'arce choke, lets it go, transitions to the arm and continues to throw left hands at McDermott's head from his back. That's what a long reach will do for you. McDermott gets to guard as McGeary throws elbows from the bottom and continues to fish for submissions. He goes for a triangle late but McDermott makes it out of the first round.
Round 2: A doctor looked over McDermott's face (and perhaps more specifically his nose) but cleared him to continue for this round. McGeary pops him repeatedly with the left hand and the blood is flowing, but McDermott continues to come forward. Body kicks are landing too. Miragliotta sees a cut over the eyebrow and calls time for the doctor to look at McDermott again, and the amount of damage is finally too much -- this fight is over.
Final result: Liam McGeary wins via technical knockout at 1:06 of the second round.
James Gallagher vs. Kirill Medvedovsky
Medvedovsky is out in the black trunks and blue gloves with a career record of 7-3 before tonight's fight. He fights out of Netanya, Israel. "The Strabanimal" Gallagher has the Irish flag on his back, black trunks with red gloves on his hands, and a 5-0 record tonight in Belfast as he fights out of Strabane. Our referee is Marc Goddard.
Round 1: Gallagher is itching to go before the bell and refuses the glove tap. He charges across the cage at the bell throwing a right hand. Medvedovsky keeps his hands up and his feet moving. The soccer chants ring out all through the SSE Arena as Gallagher tries to tune up his foe with the music of his four ounce gloves. Gallagher tries a flying knee and uses the momentum of it to get a takedown. The chants get even louder as Gallagher looks to pass and possibly cinch up a submission. He's got full mount at 2:15. Gallagher takes the back 20 seconds later and is raining down lefts and rights from behind. Medveovsky is out of options. He gives up his neck and the rear naked is sunk in. This one's over.
Final result: James Gallagher wins via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:53 of the first round.
Sinead Kavanagh vs. Iony Razafiarison
Razafiarison is wearing the yellow outfit and the blue gloves for tonight's Bellator debut. The local favorite Kavanagh is in the gray trunks and red gloves. Razafiarison is 1-1 and she fights out of Paris, France. Kavanagh is undefeated at 4-0 and fights out of Dublin, Ireland. Our referee in charge is Dan Miragliotta.
Round 1: Both women walk calmly to the center of the cage after tapping gloves during Miragliotta's instructions, seeing no hurry to get underway and no desire to tap them again. Razafiarison slowly pushes Kavanagh toward the cage then backs up when stung by a left. She comes forward again and keeps testing the height and reach advantage of Kavanagh. Kavanagh knocks her down with a right so Razafiarison hits a quick takedown when she recovers. Kavanagh pulls her right arm around Razafiarison's head and keeps the two chest to chest, clearly looking for Miragliotta to stand them up. It should work given Razafiarison doesn't have the strength to pull free, posture up and do damage. Miragliotta rewards Kavanagh for the strategy at 3:30. Kavanagh circles and paws with her left, her opponent looks for another takedown, but this time Kavanagh is able to keep her feet under her a little longer. Razafiarison finally gets it with 30 seconds left and fires off some nice lefts that may edge the round 10-9 her way.
Round 2: Razafiarison gets another takedown into half guard 24 seconds into this round, winding up in virtually the same position she ended round one. Kavanagh keeps trying to use the fence to get back up, and each time Razafiarison turns her away and tunes her up with ground and pound. She tries to use her feet to push off the fence but Razafiarison has that scouted too. Now Kavanagh needs the stand-up much more badly than she did before, and she finally gets it at 3:18. Razafiarison gets a single leg at 3:46 but Kavanagh gets up quickly. Razafiarison takes her down again at 4:13. Kavanagh is now in a two round hole going into the third having eaten some seriously hard shots at the end of each period.
Round 3: Kavanagh is taken down 26 seconds into the round and Razafiarison quickly moves to side control. Kavanagh gets her back to full guard at the minute mark but she's still giving up riding time to an opponent who has looked increasingly dominant as the fight wore on. Kavanagh keeps squirming around, inching backward toward the cage, but the sand in the hourglass is running out fast. Razafiarison stacks Kavanagh up and drops hands down the pipe, bloodying up her already bruised face. The left hand hammerfists are making Kavanagh miserable even if they aren't knocking her out. Razafiarison tries to step through to full mount with a minute left and if she weren't right against the fence the right leg would have gotten through. Razafiarison wins this round and should win the scorecards too.
Final result: The judges score this contest 30-27, 30-26 and 30-25 all for Iony Razafiarison.
Alex Lohore vs. Colin Fletcher
Lohore enters first in the black trunks and blue gloves. The Ultimate Fighter veteran Fletcher enters in solid black trunks and red gloves. Lohore is 10-1 and Fletcher is 13-7 before this 170 lb. fight begins. Lohore fights out of London, Englad by way of Paris, France. Fletcher fights out of Sunderland, England. Our referee is Marc Goddard.
Round 1: A respectful tap of gloves opens the contest. Lohore trips Fletcher to the ground 21 seconds in. Fletcher is trying to tie up a d'arce as he does. Lohore is able to survive the attempt and briefly has side control, then manages to take Fletcher's back and get a hook in. Fletcher turns out and is on top. Lohore scrambles to his feet at 1:30 and briefly has a guillotine but can't lock it up. Fletcher tries to clinch and throw a couple knees. Both men return to center. Fletcher sends Lohore backward with a shove and tries to land a jump knee but can't connect. Fletcher shoves him backward again after catching a kick and this time decks him with a hard right hand. Lohore wakes up on the ground but he's caught in an armbar. Fletcher tries to switch it to a gogoplata. Lohore takes elbows to the head as he tries to slam his way out. Fletcher goes back to the armbar but Lohore pulls free at 3:40. Lohore lands a hammerfist and goes to side control as Fletcher once again looks for a choke. Lohore escapes AGAIN with 40 seconds left. Fletcher and Lohore get back to their feet right at the bell after Lohore was trying to lock up an arm and Fletcher gave up his back.
Round 2: Lohore comes out swinging hard, perhaps hoping Fletcher gassed himself out from the sub attempts. He should be wary of the power though given Fletcher already knocked him down once. The way they're standing and exchanging at 1:08 though neither man seems gun shy. Lohore goes for a single leg and finally sweeps Fletcher to the ground at 1:44, transitioning to full mount at 2:06. He's wary of posturing up to pound it out so he looks to take the back, loses it, gets it back, and sinks in the rear naked choke to get the tap.
Final result: Alex Lohore wins via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:42 of round two.
Shay Walsh vs. James McErlean
Round 1: Unaired on Spike TV.
Final result: Shay Walsh defeats James McErlean via unanimous decision.